Thoughts on Caring for Plants After Bleach Dip

[sleepylof]

I know this post may sound a bit repetitive (I apologize), but I was wondering if I could get some advice helping plants after the bleach dip.

In sum, I transplanted my plants from a 10 gallon- low light tank to a 26 gallon tank lit by a 96W [acronym:5811f9cf54="Compact Flourescent"]CF[/acronym:5811f9cf54] bulb. This has been way more trouble than I imagined. I didn't take into account that with that kind of light the plants would deplete nutrients faster and thus would need more fertilizer. And my other mistake was NOT starting the tank off with [acronym:5811f9cf54="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:5811f9cf54]. Although initially, the tank looked fine, in about a week I had this massive BBA problem that had me scrubbing off leaves with a toothbrush every few days despite frequent H20 changes, addition of nutrients (N,P,[acronym:5811f9cf54="Kelvin or Potassium, depending on context"]K[/acronym:5811f9cf54],[acronym:5811f9cf54="Iron"]Fe[/acronym:5811f9cf54]), and 2 [acronym:5811f9cf54="Do it yourself"]DIY[/acronym:5811f9cf54] systems (I can only get about 8ppm of [acronym:5811f9cf54="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:5811f9cf54]). ... I guess this was too little too late... Finally with the help of fellow members I tried a 25:1 (H20/Bleach) solution for 2 mins for each plant. This got rid of the algae, but unfortunately my 4 year old crypt and Amazon sword seem to be melting. (Crypt has "melted spots" on it and Sword seems slightly transparent).

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can "restore" these plants? How far should I trim the leaves? Anything special to do with them? I'd greatly appreciate the advice.

Later on, I might actually revert back to a 10 gallon low lit tank...

Thanks for all your help.

[malkore]

at this point i would not trim. I assume you rinsed the plants another few mins in triple dechlor'd water?

simply replant, and stick a root tab under each crypt and sword. Bleach dips do indeed 'hurt' the plants to a degree, but they will bounce back. the root tabs help your plants in particular because they are such heavy root feeders.

I would expect a bit of crypt melt, and the sword should rebound and start putting out new leaves...the damaged ones won't really recover too much. if the leaves look real bad, just prune near the base, removing the entire leaf and most of the stem.